Big match tonight against New Mexico....hopefully it stays dry and we can get a decent size crowd. Could be big a big match for making the tournament if we don't win the conference tournament. Interesting match as well with New Mexico possibly not playing next year so I am sure Tom will be scouting their players for any potential transfers. Also $3 beer....a few of us will be drinking in the parking lot before so feel free to join.
Big match tonight against New Mexico
- Thread starter DirtyDanchez
- Start date
Somebody please answer the question: WTF is a Billiken?
I've asked this of people from StL and they don't have a damn clue. And isn't there something weird about a Jesuit university worshipping the offspring of the Grinch?
It's a made up mythical creature. That's as far as you need to go down that rabbit hole. Its kind of like our name, someone came up with it and they just kept going.
New Mexico is usually pretty well respected nationally.
Our conference is looking tough in Men and Women's soccer. The Volleyball squads look pretty strong too.
Very solid Olympic sports conference we find ourselves in.
Warning Dead Horse Beating:
I wish we had baseball again.
We get zero respect in soccer...so not surprising the one lose took us out of the rankings....we have to win all of our ooc to have any chances of a decent seed in the tournament or even making the tournament.
Not true. Not even the best in college athletics. Cooler are the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs and the Western Kentucky Hilltopper (my wife fell in love with the giant red blob back during the 2002 NCAA tournament in St. Louis).
My grandson will be making a campus visit next month. Interested in playing soccer.
How much scholorship do soccer players get. Also maybe some academic.
How much scholorship do soccer players get. Also maybe some academic.
So men's soccer gets something like 11.3 scholarships (ballpark equivalency) to divvy up among about 20 players with some scholarship and then there are usually a few walk-ons. There are relatively few full scholarship soccer players. Your better players may get anywhere between 65-75% scholarship and the coaches always work closely with Financial Aid offices to see what else they might be able to get them, especially at places like SMU and Tulsa. (BTW, this is one of the reasons state schools may offer in-state tuition to students from neighboring states, i.e. Arkansas...but not applicable to private schools). I would advise, if he and his parents haven't already done so, begin working on the FAFSA .
No. Tom and his staff are really good coaches. TU plays a very attractive attacking style that draws kids in. TUs problem is they have occasional break downs in the back end. Soccer is a little different than football and basketball where blaring deficiencies are very noticeable even to the casual fan. One of the biggest things TU hasn't had last season or this season is the stand-out professional level goalkeeper. TU has had a string of excellent keepers with pro-level talent the last decade including Derek Pittman, Mark Pais, and Jake McGuire. The talent in the MF and F positions is always top quality for college soccer and can play with pretty much anyone.
If there was a criticism to Tom's style, it might be his philosophy on defending set pieces in the defensive 1/3. TU seems to give up a majority of their GA on those types of play as opposed to in the run of play.
And they got screwed with the whole situation of the game at SMU.
Are they playing in the Arkansas United tournament in North Little Rock? If so, that complex is amazing and it is such a fun tournament. Good luck. The competitive soccer scene is interesting, especially in Tulsa where the clubs pretty much hate one another and pretty much refuse to work with each other to make the process of developing players easier. And the coaches jump from one to the other quite frequently.
I'm finding that out. Macklin coached at Sheffield last year. He took all his girls to Blitz this year. We played TSC two weeks ago but don't play them again this year from what I can see. TSC is also playing under a different governing body apparently which has caused some issues in scheduling due to rule differences. I'm a youth baseball guy so this competitive soccer stuff if new to me.
Thanks...It's my daughter's first tournament. The one last weekend was cancelled due to rain. Looking forward to the soccer but not the drive tonight.
Yeah, there are some smaller clubs in the area that TSC and Blitz/OFC Energy have tried to swallow up. At the academy levels (U11 and under), TSC and Blitz have the opportunities to play. Once they get to true competitive, U12 and up, TSC plays under what is called OPC and Blitz is under OSA. As the manager for my son's team when this went down, OSA is extremely bureaucratic and not always looking out for the best interest of it's members clubs. OSA formed a partnership with the OKC Energy FC and the clubs on the east side of the state got pissed off because the Roughnecks were not part of that deal. It was a decision made by the higher ups in OKC. 5 of the largest 7 clubs in Oklahoma went to the OPC platform leaving Blitz and the OKC FC clubs basically fending for themselves and playing a lot of games against the same group of teams in their league schedules. We have friends who are over there who say they look forward to tournament weekends because they see different teams.
OPC cleaned some of the inefficiency at OSA up in terms of scheduling and getting games rescheduled as well as knowing what weekends each of its member clubs tournaments were so they avoided those altogether.
As for your daughter's coach. Blitz and TSC will often see teams from the smaller clubs in the area and offer the coaches more $$$ if they bring the entire team over to the club. A well-known Blitz coach moved his entire '06 team to TSC this season, in August. I know another coach whose entire team moved to TSC because they are quite good, but apparently the coach didn't fit TSC's profile. Sort of sucked for the coach.
And there's a ton of politics at play within each club and which players are moved up to higher level teams and what not. When you get to what they call "tryouts", don't be discouraged by the lack of an actual tryout or evaluation. If your daughter likes the other girls on the team, the coach, and you all like the other parents, band together and tell the coach you'll stay but only if he's the coach and the group gets to stay together. I know of an '06 boys team at Blitz/Energy that did that this year and the continued development path because of the consistency for them has paid off.
Thanks. I noticed fairly quickly looking at the teams that politics obviously played some role. I assume it does in most things so I wasn't surprised. Hope you don't mind if I pick your brain from time to time. I know I'll have much more of a feel for this thing in three weeks after all these tourneys. Hoping my daughter likes it. I certainly have a blast watching her compete.
They’re going to Orlando for a tourney next summer so I know she’s down for the Disney World thing
They’re going to Orlando for a tourney next summer so I know she’s down for the Disney World thing
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Bryson Reed is the real deal.....got to see him against Denver....had 10 saves. The goals were not his fault as I have no idea what the f the defense was doing.....how in OT with 1:30 left you don't keep track of one of the best college players in the country.
That has happened a couple of time this year. Because of TU's attacking style their edge defenders and holding MFs tend to push fairly far up into the attack and it leaves them susceptible to being countered.
And as I've said, it may be a zone marking thing on set pieces but TU has struggled in defending their 1/3 of the field against set pieces (FKs, corners) the last few years.
Not getting any bounces. Every game has been within a goal and TU generates a lot of chances but just isn't finishing and finding the back of the net. It happens. They have some of the most talented FR in the conference up front. I suspect they are having some issues with the back and just having that lockdown defender that cleans up mistakes.
The offensive philosophy that is so successful at TU also makes it difficult to attract the big bodies you need to defend set pieces. A lot of those goals you are talking about are the result of physical mismatches down the roster. We match up well in the middle and the mixer, but we got some little guys and some guys whose defensive dedication isn’t always 100. Those vulnerabilities are easily seen and exploited especially at the end of the year when South Florida, Louisville and others trot out 6’1” 195 midfielders who have 4 to 5 inches, 20 lbs and a lot of leverage against our boys. Which is fine, we just need to be smart, sound, and break them down when we have the ball. We aren’t doing that this year. It looks like chemistry plain and simple at least in the few games I’ve watched online. I’ll see em live three times this month, I’ll share my thoughts, if any after that. But the problem isn’t coaching or infrastructure. Trust me on that. Men’s soccer and tennis might be the only program where you can say that right now
Thanks for the responses. Took my daughter to see the women’s team tonight. Fell behind by 2 goals early and didn’t have quite enough make up that early deficit. Had a good time though. Guess I’m officially a soccer dad now. Headed to Missouri this weekend for a tourney.
Kyle does a good job for the women's team and his recruiting has really picked up the last couple of years.
There is an economic issue for TU in terms of soccer recruiting because of the NCAA structure of scholarships for "non-equivalency sports" (i.e. you don't get as many scholarships as you do roster spots). There is a butt load of soccer talent in the greater Tulsa metro area and in Oklahoma in general. However, with 12 or 14 scholarships divided up among 25-28 players, potential players will need a little more in financial aid from TU, and sometimes that means loans the student athlete or the parents aren't willing to take. 2 years ago, 8 girls from Union's state championship team went on to play college soccer on scholarship. 4 or 5 went to Arkansas, a couple others went to OU and OSU. Why none to TU? Plain and simple it's the economics for the student athlete. Arkansas offers in-state tuition to students from the (918) area code (and maybe all of Oklahoma).
And TU's men doesn't really have any in-state competition for recruits. ORU is the only other D1 men's program.
Agree with most points except strength of Tulsa pool and recruiting. Tulsa doesn’t have enough for TU to rely upon even if all the financial things were even. When you subtract the talent that wants to leave Tulsa for college, there’s not enough left. As for what we’ve signed — It’s taken a dip. That team about five years ago with Jordan/Cami up top and Roman as a freshman was really really stacked. It’s rare to see a college girls team play on the field and look like they really care about each other and have fun while still having a killer instinct. That team had all three at max levels. It’s usually a mix with one of the three missing entirely. That team had three maybe four players that could have and should have gone pro. The coaching held them back from having a special year. There were weaknesses that could have and should have been covered up. but we’ve got a good fit and recruiting in that sport will always be cyclical. No compliants at all from me on either coach.
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